Crazy idea to fight spam

[Hitchhiker 42]

Originally Posted by JustinCAD

Most of these links do lead to genglobal.org, but not all. Obviously as you stated, it would be a temporary fix, due to the fact that it would only filter those links.

It is possible. I don't know if CD has it, but vBulletin has a plugin that blocks links stemming from one link.

I like this idea, and until a long term fix can be found, this would work.

Oh noes! You actually clicked on the links!?

Seriously though, I like this proposal.

[euhlmann]

As a more general / effective temporary fix, CD could have a whitelist for websites that actually will generate links. Eg, FIRST website, TBA, Github, etc would be allowed as links, while other links would simply display URLs without actually being a link.

Example:
link to github (whitelisted, displayed as link)
ht​tp://g​englobal.o​rg/some-spam (not whitelisted, displayed as plain url)

On other forums this type of system is effective at preventing spam from new users (in fairness, other forums have other measures as well), since spammers know people aren't going to copy and paste their spam. I'm not sure how effective it'll be on our resident spammer here, but I think it's worth a try.

[Ty Tremblay]

Has anyone suggested a captcha on account creation?

[bdaroz]

Originally Posted by Ty Tremblay

Has anyone suggested a captcha on account creation?

Pretty sure there is one... and they'd get around it anyway.

[Gravity]

To take the strain off the mods from patrolling every single post, why not restrict a thread (unviewable) if the OP receives a certain amount of negative rep from it. The thread can then be removed when a moderator sees it is in the restricted section.

[EricH]

Originally Posted by Gravity

To take the strain off the mods from patrolling every single post, why not restrict a thread (unviewable) if the OP receives a certain amount of negative rep from it. The thread can then be removed when a moderator sees it is in the restricted section.

But, but... what about our favorite "controversial" threads? This would kill those, too!


Not that that's necessarily a bad thing, but it would contribute to the perception of non-transparent moderating that seems to have developed.

The other factor is that you'd have to deal with "rep clicks" vs. "rep score". One rep click from someone with a lot of rep points can dish out an awful lot of rep score in a hurry--one reason I'm generally cautious with rep--but the same score can also be picked up from a lot of people with not as many rep points all firing off one rep click apiece.

[euhlmann]

Originally Posted by EricH

But, but... what about our favorite "controversial" threads? This would kill those, too!


Not that that's necessarily a bad thing, but it would contribute to the perception of non-transparent moderating that seems to have developed.

The other factor is that you'd have to deal with "rep clicks" vs. "rep score". One rep click from someone with a lot of rep points can dish out an awful lot of rep score in a hurry--one reason I'm generally cautious with rep--but the same score can also be picked up from a lot of people with not as many rep points all firing off one rep click apiece.

Then instead of using rep, use reports. When a certain number of people report the post as spam, it should be hidden until a mod can take action

[EricH]

Originally Posted by euhlmann

Then instead of using rep, use reports. When a certain number of people report the post as spam, it should be hidden until a mod can take action

As long as "certain number" = 1-2 (and was limited to thread OPs), I think you'd be OK. More than that and I'd expect a moderator revolt.

Bear in mind that every time someone reports a post, the mods for that area get a message. Don't want to be clogging up inboxes now.

[euhlmann]

Looks like a new type of spam came in today, based on posting very unsafe images.

I propose that CD disallows the [img] tag altogether until this spam issue can be resolved. (It should be an easy config change with vbulletin). I don't think we can risk members being exposed to these things.

[Hitchhiker 42]

Originally Posted by euhlmann

Looks like a new type of spam came in today, based on posting very unsafe images.

I propose that CD disallows the [img] tag altogether until this spam issue can be resolved. (It should be an easy config change with vbulletin). I don't think we can risk members being exposed to these things.

If anything, put it on imgur as a link...

[EmileH]

Originally Posted by Ty Tremblay

Has anyone suggested a captcha on account creation?

There is a captcha on account creation. It is worth noting that it is not a modern captcha service like Google's ReCaptcha, and probably easier to circumvent.